U s house budget committee

The Tories have been accused of "rigging Parliament" to stop MPs defeating parts of the Budget. Ministers have used an obscure procedure that, according to Labour, will prevent MPs from passing amendments to the Finance Bill. It's not the first time the Tories have been accused of trying to rig Parliament subtly in their favour. Theresa May guaranteed a Tory majority on key committees, even though she didn't win a majority in the election. And David Cameron 's government scrapped plans to starve opposition parties of cash after an outcry. This time the Government has not tabled an "amendment of the law resolution" to the Finance Bill now passing through the Commons. That resolution would have allowed amendments which are outside the scope of measures in the Budget itself. Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the tactic was "almost unprecedented" and showed the Government wanted to avoid debate on key issues. In the past such amendments have been a crucial way of holding the … [Read more...] about Tories accused of ‘rigging Parliament’ to stop defeat over the Budget

Poor parents are being denied free milk for their babies when they move on to Universal Credit, stark evidence has revealed. The all-in-one benefit leaves children at risk of being "without food" after glitches meant £3.10-a-week vouchers were withdrawn for weeks. 'Healthy Start' vouchers are supposed to go to the poorest benefit claimants to ensure their children do not go hungry. Yet the scheme's computer system still doesn't recognise the "full service" version of Universal Credit, the Halton Housing Trust said. That means parents who move onto the benefit are having their vouchers stopped according to Halton, which manages 7,000 homes in Cheshire. To make matters worse, the claimants are then allegedly given no notification that they need to reapply. And the only way to get signed up is to file a printed paper application with the full Universal Credit award - which only arrives six weeks or so after joining the benefit. Halton wrote in evidence to the Commons Work and … [Read more...] about Poor mums are being denied free milk for their babies under new benefit Universal Credit

THE SIX-WEEK wait for Universal Credit claimants will be slashed after concerns it was driving people into poverty, it was claimed today.People applying to claim the new benefit will have to wait no more than four weeks under a plan set reportedly to be announced in next week’s Budget.The news was welcomed by Tory rebels who have been pressuring Theresa May to make the policy more generous.Universal Credit replaces six other types of benefit including jobseeker’s allowance and housing credit.The scheme - currently being rolled out to all benefits claimants - is meant to make the welfare system easier to understand and encourage the jobless to return to work.But it has been heavily criticised because new claimants are routinely forced to wait six weeks to get their first payment, forcing many to fall behind on their rent and other essential bills.Last month a committee of MPs called for the six-week delay to be cut, warning that it would bring a “Christmas … [Read more...] about Benefits claimants ‘will have to wait four weeks instead of six to get Universal Credit’ in Government U-turn

THE Chancellor is caught up in a sexism storm after ­colleagues say he told ­Cabinet that driving a train is now so undemanding that even women can do it.The extraordinary events took place in Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting.They outraged colleagues and led to a dressing down from the Prime Minister.But a source close to ­Philip Hammond strongly denied that he made any such ­comment, insisting he would never even think in such terms.Hammond allies suggest the phrase was uttered by another minister unfairly ­caricaturing Hammond’s ­position.The Chancellor’s argument was that the trade unions still have a stranglehold on who gets trained as a train driver, despite the nature of the job having changed massively.He asked colleagues when was the last time they had seen a female train driver, before pointing out that there was no physical bar to them doing it.As he excitedly explained how simple driving a train now is, he ended, sources claim, by … [Read more...] about Sexism storm shows Philip Hammond has to take better care or his career will reach the end of the line

SECRETARIES of State were told to turn up to Cabinet early on Wednesday if they wanted to read Theresa May’s Article 50 letter before the meeting started.But with it already on its way to Brussels, the discussion that followed was slightly pointless.The start of the Brexit process, though, has gone as well for May — at home and abroad — as anyone could have realistically expected.No.10’s great worry was an instant EU rejection of what they proposed. They feared a situation where European leaders simply said an immediate no to everything they asked for.That is why May adopted such a conciliatory tone in the letter and why the Government kept the Brexit-backing ministers off the airwaves on Article 50 day.“You don’t want any triumphalism,” one senior Cabinet Minister told me.The most controversial part of the letter was May’s warning that if the UK left without a deal, security co-operation would be weakened.Interestingly, Boris Johnson had … [Read more...] about Wily Theresa May shows the sky won’t fall in at Brexit following letter kicking off EU divorce

Following Thursday's unanimous decision by the United States Senate to request NATO support for its occupation of Iraq, Germany and France are expected to receive official requests for troops. But officials in both France and Germany have said they would oppose even considering sending troops without a United Nations mandate. A spokesman for the German Defense Ministry confirmed his ministry's stance to Deutsche Welle on Thrusday. The latest diplomatic negotiations come against a backdrop of rising violence and instability in Iraq. Every day, new reports come out of attacks against U.S. soldiers. A total of 31 have been killed since U.S. President George W. Bush announced the end of the main fighting in Iraq in May. Reports also indicate that morale among the 146,000 U.S. soldiers currently stationed in Iraq is plunging. The U.S. government also admitted this week that costs have increased dramatically – rising from approximately $2 billion a month in April, taxpayers were told … [Read more...] about U.S. Expected to Ask Germany, France To Send Troops To Iraq

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is at loggerheads with the country's central bank over monetary policy - a conflict that could have profound consequences for the future of the Turkish economy. Erdogan wants the central bank's core interest rate, adjusted for inflation, kept near zero to encourage maximum lending - but the central bank, worried about inflation risks and currency depreciation, wants to increase the interest rate. For now, Erdogan is winning. The Turkish central bank, or CBRT, lowered its headline interest rate for the third month in a row in July. But critics say Erdogan's policy victory will eventually result in a major financial crisis in Turkey, if and when the country's massive private-sector debt bubble, fuelled by excessively cheap credit, stops growing. In January, the CBRT had raised interest rates sharply in a bid to curb Turkey's current account deficit, stop a dangerous decline in the currency's exchange value, and slow an exodus of international … [Read more...] about Turkey’s economy at a crossroads